Accordion converter



May 16, 196] o. M. LOEFFELHOLZ ACCORDION CONVERTER 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 8, 1959 IF gif 9 m R R) Viv wh/ INVENTOR A ORNEY Xvi k.

May 16, 1961 o. M. LOEFFELHOLZ ACCORDION CONVERTER 4 SheetsSheet 4 Filed June 8, 1959 R O M M m W 5 O 0 BY W United States Patent ACCORDION CONVERTER Oscar M. Loeffelholz, Rte. 1, Lincoln, Ill. Filed June 8, 1959, Ser. No. 818,730

7 Claims. (Cl. 84-376) This invention relates to an apparatus on which the disconnected treble section and bass section of a conventional accordion can be readily mounted to enable the accordion with the aid of the apparatus to then be played as a chord organ.

More particularly, it is an aim of the invention to provide a converter for accordions including means for propelling air through the converter and accordion, for playing the accordion.

A further object of the invention is to provide a converter having a power source and blower for propelling'the air through the accordion and through the converter. Still another object of the invention is to provide a converter including shutters for regulating the flow of air, utilized in playing the accordion while attached to the converter, to thereby regulate the volume of the tones produced by the accordion.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the the following description of the drawings, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is an end elevational view showing the treble section of a conventional accordion attached to the con verter;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through the cabinet of the converter and on a reduced scale, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view through the converter, taken substantially along the line 3-3 of Figure 4, and showing a part of the bass section of the accordion in elevation;

Figure 4 is a view partly in horizontal section and partly in top plan and on a reduced scale, taken substantially along the line 4-4 of Figure 1;

Y Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevational view, partly broken away and partly in section, of the converter;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along the line 6-6 of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional view, taken substantially along the line 7-7 of Figure 5;

Figure 8 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 8-8 of Figure 5;

- Figure 9 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 9-9 of Figure 5;

Figure 10 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view through the cabinet of the converter, taken substantially along the line 10-10 of Figure 2;

Figure 11 is a similar view taken substantially along the line 11-11 of Figure 2;

I Figure 12 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view, taken substantially along the line 12-12 of Figure 5;

Figure 13 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional view, taken substantially along the line 13-13 of Figure 4;

Figure 14 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional view, taken substantially along the line 14-14 of Figure 5;

Figure 15 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 15-15 of Figure 4;

Figure 16 is a cross sectional view of the armrest, as illustrated in Figure 13, but shown removed from the accordion;

Figure 17 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view, taken substantially along the line 17-17 of Figure 13, and

Figure 18 is a horizontal sectional view through an end of the converter cabinet and showing an operating mechanism in an inoperative position.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the accordion converter in its entirety is designated generally 20 and includes an elongated cabinet, designated generally 21, which is preferably formed of wood and which includes a bottom 22, a rear wall 23, a front wall 24 and a top wall 25. The rear wall 23 extends between the rear edges of the bottom 22 and top 25, and the front wall 24 extends downwardly from the forward edge of the top wall 25 but terminates substantially above the bottom 22. Said bottom 22 is substantially wider than the top 25 and extends forwardly substantially beyond the plane of the front wall 24.

The cabinet 21 includes a transverse partition wall 26 which separates said cabinet into end compartments 27 and 28. Walls 29, 30 and 31 which are disposed within the chamber 28 and which are connected to one an other and to the partition wall 26 and bottom 22, combine with said bottom and partition wall to form an air passageway having an open front defined by downwardly and forwardly inclined forward edges of the partition 26 and the vertical wall 29, and which forward edges extend downwardly from the bottom edge of the front wall 24 at an incline to adjacent the forward edge of the bottom 22. The partition wall 26 is provided with an opening or port 32 forming a passage connecting the cabinet chamber 27 to said aforementioned air passageway 33.

A motor and fan housing 34, preferably formed of wood, is disposed within the chamber 27 and is secured to the cabinet bottom 22 by fastenings 35 which extend through cushioning blocks 36 and which are interposed between the bottom 22 and the bottom of the housing 34, and which provide sound deadening and vibration absorbing means. An end wall 37 of the housing 34 is disposed adjacent the partition 26 and a cushioning grommet or ring 38, preferably formed of soft rubber, fits snugly between the walls 26 and 37. Said wall 37 has an inlet port 39 disposed in alignment with the opening of the ring 38 and the port 32 of partition 26. The other end wall 40 of the housing 34 has an outlet port 41. An electric motor 42 is disposed within the housing 34 and is secured to the bottom 43 thereof by fastenings 44. A centrifugal blower or impeller 45 is supported and rotatably driven by the motor 42 and is disposed between said motor and the end wall 37, and around the inlet opening 39, for drawing air through the opening 39 into said blower or impeller 45 and for expelling the air outwardly therefrom into the housing 34.

The partition 26, around the air passageway 33-, is provided with a series of vent apertures 46 which connect the cabinet chambers 27 and 28. Said chamber 27 is lined with rock wool or other sound absorbing material 47, as seen in Figure 2, which does not, however, cover the air passages 46. The interior of the motor casing 34 is likewise preferably lined with a similar sound absorbing material 48-, as seen in Figure 4. The cabinet 21 additionally includes end walls 49 and 50. The end wall 50 of the cabinet chamber 28 and the part of the rear wall 23', which is contiguous with said chamber 28, are provided with air vent apertures 51 for the escape of air from the cabinet 21, as will hereinafter be described. The chamber 28- may be used for storage of certain elements utilized in connection. with the accordion converter and an accordion applied thereto, and for this purpose said rear wall 23- may be provided with an access opening 52 opening into the chamber 28 and normally closed by a hinged foraminous closure 53', as seen in Figure 2.

The accordion converter additionally includes an elongated air chest 54 which comprises an elongated rectangular frame 55 to one edge of which is secured a front wall 56, and to the other edge of which is secured a rear wall 57, which walls combine with the frame 55 to form the air chest having an air chamber extending from end-to-end thereof, as best illustrated in Figure 6. As best seen in Figure 5, the lower portion of the rear wall 57 is provided with an opening 58, disposed remote from the ends of said air chest and a rectangular block 59, of approximately the same thickness as the frame 55, is disposed between and secured to the walls 56 and 57, above the opening 58. The air chest 54 is disposed with its rear wall resting against the downwardly and forwardly inclined front edges of the walls 49, 26, 29 and 50 and with its bottom edge bearing against the forward portion of the bottom 22 and its upper edge bearing against the lower portion of the front wall 24, for closing the open front of the cabinet 21, below said front wall 24. The air chest 54 is suitably secured to the cabinet 21 to prevent air from entering the cabinet around the air chest. When thus disposed, the opening 58 is in registration with the passageway 33, as seen in Figure 6.

Looking toward the front side of the converter 20, with the air chest applied to the cabinet 21, as seen in Figure 5, a rectangular elongated frame 60 is secured to and projects outwardly from the left hand end of the front wall 56, and a rectangular frame 61 is secured to and projects outwardly from the right hand end of said front wall 56. The opening 58 and block 59 are disposed in the portion of the air chest 54 which is located between the adjacent ends of the frames 60 and 61, as seen in Figure 6. The top and bottom portions and ends of the frame 61 are of approximately the same width. However, the frame 60 tapers in width from top to bottom thereof, as seen in Figure 3, and the extent of such taper may vary depending upon the accordion which is applied to the converter 20, as will hereinafter be described.

The front wall 56 is provided with a vertically elongated opening 62, which opens into the frame 60. A fiat plate forming a shutter 63 is disposed against the outer side of the front wall 56 and is attached thereto at its lower end by a pivot element 64, which is disposed below the opening 62. A guide strip 65 has its ends secured by fastenings 66 to the outer side of the wall 56, and longitudinally thereof, and said guide strip has an outwardly otfset intermediate portion under which a tongue 67 loosely engages. Said tongue 67 comprises a restricted extension of the upper free end of the shutter 63. One end of a rod 68 is pivotally connected by a fastening 69 to the outer side of the shutter 63 above the pivot 64. Rod 68 extends slidably through a bushing 70 formed in the inner end wall 71 of the frame 60. One end of a pull spring 72 is fastened to the pivot 69 and the other end thereof is anchored as seen at 73 to the wall 56, adjacent the frame end 71 for swinging the shutter clockwise, as seen in Figure 5, into a closed position over the opening 62 and against a stop 74. The shutter 63 has a smallopening 75 which is in registration with the opening 62, when the shutter is in a closed position.

An actuating rod 76 is swingably suspended by apivot element 77, which extends outwardly from the front wall 56, between the adjacent ends of the frames 60 and 61. The intermediate portion of the rod 76 is enlarged and recessed to provide a weighted laterally opening socket 78- is which the free end of the rod 68 loosely seats. The lower free end of the rod 76 extends downwardly from the air chest 54, as seen in Figures 1 and 3, for a purpose which will hereinafter be described.

The front wall 56 has an elongated slot or opening 79 which opens into the frame 61, and which is also disposed crosswise thereof. A shutter 80 is disposed on the outer side of the wall 56 and is pivotally connected thereto at its lower end by a fastening 31, which is disposed below the opening 79. The upper free end of the shutter 80, which is disposed between the upper end of the opening 79 and the upper portion 82 of the frame 61, terminates in an outturned bifurcated portion 83, as best seen in Figures 7 and 8. A shaft 84 has end portions journaled in aligned bores 85 of the upper portion 8 2 and lower portion 86 of the frame 61. Saidshaft is provided with an oflfset portion 87, disposed beneath and adjacent the top portion 82 and forming a crank which loosely engages between the furcations of the bifurcated portion 83. The upper end of the shaft 84 extends to above the upper frame portion 82 and has a lever 83 fixed thereto.

The top portion 82 is provided with an air inlet port 89 and a manually'operated valve 90 is slidably mounted by a pin and slot means 91, as best seen in Figure 4, on the outer side of the frame portion 82 to either close or expose said air inlet port 89.

The wall 56 is provided with a second vertically elongated opening 92, which opens into the frame 61. An elongated plate 93' is secured to the outer side of the wall 56 over the opening 92 and has an elongated slot 94 opening through the upper end thereof and which is in registration with the opening 92, but of a width and length somewhat less than the width and length of the opening 92. As best seen in Figure 14, an elongated strip, preferably formed of spring steel and designated 95, is secured at its upper end to the outer side of the wall 56, above the opening 92 by a fastening and wedge means 96, so that the strip 95 extends downwardly to adjacent the lower end of the slot 94 and is normally disposed at a slight incline outwardly, relative to the plane of the plate 93. The lower end of the resilient tongue 95 is weighted as by a drop of lead 97 secured thereto. A bar 98 has end portions secured by fastenings 99, as best seen in Figure 9, to the outer side of the wall 56. The intermediate portion of the bar 98 extends across the upper portion of the plate 93 and across the tongue 95, beneath and adjacent the fastening 96, and is spaced outwardly from said plate and tongue. A setscrew 100 is threaded inwardly through the intermediate portion of the bar 93 and has its inner end bearing against the tongue 95 to vary the extent that the lower portionof the tongue will be inclined outwardly relative to the plane of the plate'93. The tongue 95 is sized to swing through the slot or opening 94 with slight clearance.

As best seen in Figures 2, 4 and 13, guides 101 are secured to the outer side of the end wall 40 of the blower housing 34 on either side of the outlet port 41. A shutter 102 is slidably mounted in the guides 101 and on the outer side of the wall 40. A pull spring 103 is connected to and extends upwardly from the shutter 102 and has its upper end anchored to a pin 104 which projects outwardly from the wall '40, for urging the shutter 102 upwardly against a stop 105, which extends. between the upper ends of the guides 101. The shutter when thus disposed is in a closed position for substantially closing the outlet port 41. However, said shutter has a sufficient loose fitting engagement with the wall 40 so that aircan readily escape to a limited extent through the port" 41- past the closed shutter 102.

A shaft 106 is journaled in bearings 107 which are secured to the inner side of the cabinet end wall 49. The shaft 106 at its inner end has a long crank arm 108 which extends laterally from the axis of the shaft between one of the bearings 107 and a stop 109, which prevents sliding movement of the shaft 106 in its bearings. The free end of the arm 108 has a laterally extending terminal portion 110 which is adapted to bear on a bracket 111, which projects outwardly from the bottom edge of the shutter 102.

As best seen in Figure 13, the shaft 106 has a forward end extending outwardly from the forward edge of the bottom 22, beneath the air chest 54, and which terminates in an eye 112 to which a lever arm 113 is adjustably clamped by a bolt and wing nut fastening 114. Said lever arm 113 is formed of end sections which are likewise adjustably connected by another bolt and wing nut fastening 114, as best illustrated in Figure 17. In the normal operative position of the lever arm 113, said arm extends downwardly from the eye 112. However, when the converter 20 is not in use the shaft 106 may be turned to swing the arm 108 upwardly against the end wall 49 and the arm 113 can be folded.

The treble half 115 of a conventional accordion is shown with its inner open side in abutting engagement with the open outer side of the frame 61, and the bass half 116 of the accordion is shown supported against the open forward side of the frame 60. The bellows 117 of the accordion is disconnected from the treble half 115 in a conventional manner by removing the bellows pins, not shown, which attach the bellows to the treble accordion half 115, and the bellows is then collapsed against the bass half 116 and the open end of the collapsed bellows 117 is mounted against the frame 60. An eye or loop 118 projects outwardly from the air chest 54, between the frames 60 and 61, and is anchored to the front wall 56 and the block 59. Loops or eyes 119 are anchored to and project outwardly from the end walls 49 and 50. A strap 120 has a part extending through the loop 118 and end portions anchored to the eyes 119. Portions of the strap 120 engage around the accordion halves 115 and 116 to secure said accordion halves tightly against the frames 61 and 60, respectively. The strap 120 may be provided with means 121 for adjusting the effective length thereof.

With the accordion thus mounted on the converter 20, a keyboard 122 of the treble section 115 will be disposed in substantially a horizontal plane. The outer edge of the frame or molding 60 is inclined inwardly from top to bottom thereof so that the keys 123 of the bass section 116 will be disposed more nearly upright and thus in a position most convenient to a player. Preferably, an armrest 124 is supported by the part of the strap 120 which extends around the bass section 116, so that the rounded upper portion of said rest 124 will be disposed at approximately the level of the keys 123. The rest 124 includes a bottom portion 125 of V-shape cross section, as seen in Figure 16, around which the strap 120 engages and the parts of which are sprung toward one another by the tension of the strap 120, as seen in Figure 15, for yieldably maintaining the armrest portion 125 snugly against the front side of the bass section 116. The rounded upper portion of armrest 124 is engaged by the wrist or forearm of the left hand to support the hand conveniently above the keys 123.

An electric switch 126 is preferably mounted on and extends outwardly from the front wall 24 and is interposed in the electric circuit, not shown, of the motor 42. When the switch 126 is closed and the motor 42 is energized, the blower or impeller 45 will be revolved to create a suction in the passageway 33 and air chest 54 for drawing air therethrough and through the ports 32 and 39 into the housing 34. The air escapes from the housing 34 through the outlet port 41 into the cabinet chamber 27 and through the perforations 46 into the other cabinet chamber 28 from which the air escapes to the atmosphere through the apertures 51 and the foraminous closure 53. The soundproofing linings 47 and 48 and the cushioning means for mounting the housing 34 relative to the cabinet 21 etfectively absorb sound and vibration of the motor 42 and blower 45 so that a substantially noiseless operation of the converter mechanism is accomplished.

The cabinet 21 is supported on any suitable support of a proper height so that the player can sit in front of the accordion halves with his or hear knees disposed between the lower end of the rod 76 and the extended arm 113. The keyboard 122 is played with the right hand and the keys 123 are operated by the fingers of the left hand, as is conventional. Air is drawn inwardly through the conventional air inlet openings of the accordion, so that the air is filtered. With the shutter 63 closed, a small amount of air will leak through the port into the air chest 54 so that the tones produced by the bass section 116 will be soft or mufiled. For greater volume, the shutter 63 must be open. This is accomplished by pressure being exerted with the left knee against the lower end of the rod 76 in a direction from right to left, as seen in Figure 5, for displacing the push rod 68 from right to left, to effect a desired opening of the shutter 63.

The shutter 80 is opened to a desired extent by manual operation of the lever 88 and the shaft 84 has sufficient tight engagement in its journals 85 to maintain the shutter 80 at a desired setting. When no tremolo is desired, the valve is closed, as seen in Figure 5, and the shutter 80 is opened so that air can pass freely into the air chest 54 through the opening 79, and so that the tremolant will not function. If the shutter 80 and valve 90 are both closed, a light tremolo will be obtained, resulting from the air entering through the treble accordion section 115. If a heavy tremolo is desired, the valve 90 is opened to allow air to enter through the port 89. This will produce a decided or heavy beat as vibration of the tongue 95 occurs. For most effective operation of said tongue 95, the setscrew must be adjusted with the blower 45 operating and the shutter 80 closed, before the treble accordion half 115 is applied, to obtain maximum vibration of the tongue 95. Once this adjustment has been made, no further adjustment is necessary. To insure that the tongue 95 will be retained correctly positioned, as seen in Figure 5, to swing through the slot 94, pins 127 are provided, which project outwardly from the wall 56, above the bar 98 and below the fastening 96, and between which a part of the tongue 95 extends to prevent lateral movement of said tongue.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the position of the shutter 63 controls the volume of the bass half 116 of the accordion, while the position of the shutter 80 and valve 90 control the volume of the treble section 115 of the accordion and the beat of the tremolant tongue 95. However, the primary volume control for both the bass section and treble section of the accordion is accomplished by the shutter or slide valve 102. When said shutter is closed, air escaping through the port 41 is substantially retarded so that the tones produced by both halves of the accordion will be muted, even though the shutters 63 and 80 are open. The volume for both halves of the accordion will be increased as shutter 10?. is moved downwardly toward an open position, from its raised closed position of Figure 13, and which is accomplished by pressure applied with the right knee to the extension arm 113 for swinging said arm outwardly and upwardly, for forcing the arm 108 and its extension 110 downwardly. As pressure against the extension arm 113 is reduced, the spring 103 will raise the shutter 1432 toward a closed position to thereby turn the shaft 106 for swinging the extension arm 113 downwardly and inwardly.

It will thus be seen that the converter 20 functions with a conventional accordion to produce an instrument very similar to a chord organ including elements funca tioning similar to organ reeds. While the converter is described as operating on a suction principle, since in this manner the air passing through the accordion and converter is filtered, the instrument could be operated by air pressure by reversing the operation of the blower 45 so that air would be expelled therefrom into the passageway 33 and air chest 54, instead of being drawn from said parts toward the blower.

A music rack 128 may be pivotally mounted on the upper side of the cabinet top wall 25 by pivot elements 129 engaging bracket arms 130 which extend upwardly from said top wall 25, and said music rack may be propped in an upright or at an incline most convenient to the musician.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may be resorted to, without departing from the function or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. An accordion converter comprising an elongated cabinet, a blower provided with a power source contained within said cabinet, an air chest extending substantially from end-to-end of the cabinet and constituting a front wall portion of the cabinet, said air chest having an air chamber therein extending substantially from endto-end thereof, said cabinet containing an air passageway having a port communicating with the blower and a second port opening into the air chamber of said air chest, said air chest including a front Wall, means connected to the cabinet for detachably mounting the treble half of an accordion on the outer side of one end of the front wall and the bass half of the accordion on the outer side of the other end of said front Wall of the air chest with the open inner sides of the accordion halves facing inwardly toward said front wall, said front wall having openings communicating with the air chest chamber and with the interiors of the accordion halves, and manually operable shutters supported by said front wall .and disposed one over each of said openings for selectively regulating the air passing through each of said openings to the air chamber from the accordion sections.

2. An accordion converter as in claim 1, a housing mounted within said cabinet and containing said blower and power source, said housing having a port communicating with the air passageway and a port opening into the cabinet, and manually actuated means connected to the cabinet and housing for restricting the flow of air through said last mentioned port for regulating the volume of the tones produced by both halves of the accordion.

3. An accordion converter as in claim 2, means disposed between and engaging portions of the housing and cabinet for cushioning the mounting of said housing within the cabinet, and sound deadening means lining said housing and the portion of the cabinet surrounding the housing and cooperating with said cushioning means for absorbing sounds and vibrations produced by the blower and power source.

4. An accordion converter as in claim 1, and a tremolant unit mounted on the outer side of the front wall of the air chest and asociated with one of the openings thereof communicating with the interior of the treble half of the accordion.

5. An accordion converter as in claim 4, a frame interposed between said front wall of the air chest and the open inner side of the treble half of the accordion, said frame being disposed around said tremolant unit, said frame having an air port providing an auxiliary air supply for the opening associated with said tremolant unit, and valve means on said frame for regulating the supply of air through said air port.

6. An accordion converter as in claim 5, said manually operable shutter means including a manually operable shutter for regulating air passing through said treble section for varying the operation of said tremolant unit.

7. An accordion converter as in claim 1, and an armrest detachably supported by the means mounting the accordion halves and supported thereby in a position for supporting the forearm of the hand utilized to operate the keys of the bass half of the accordion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,016,122 Schmidt Oct. 1, 1935 2,650,515 Robotti Sept. 1, 1953 2,722,152 Gobbi Nov. 1, 1955 2,796,796 Bolle June 25, 1957 2,849,909 Gobbi Sept. 2, 1958 

